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The ZTZ-59-I was a improvement of Norinco's original Type 59 design (which was a licensed copy of the Soviet T-54 tank), which by the dawn of the '70s had become somewhat obsolete even according to Chinese military standards. The new tank would include new features such as a laser-range finder and primitive fire control system, making it more able to compete with the newer generation NATO and Soviet MBTs (e.g. T-62 and Leopard 1). The tank entered mass production in the '70s, and would be manufactured in numerous different armor and fire control configurations during the decade.

The thin armor means that any decent medium end tank will kill it in one shot before it even gets into range where it can do any sort of damage to enemy tanks. In close-range forest brawl it's viable but the low AP means that it won't do much against and decent tanks, the low armor doesn't help neither against both HEAT and KE rounds. It's better to use ZTZ-59-IIA for close range forest encounters and fire support behind infantry.